Purple. All Tommy could see was purple.
He was floating silently, surrounded by purple. He wasn't afraid; no, he wasn't really feeling anything at all. He could scarcely move but, strangely nothing in his body hurt. He gazed around languidly at his surroundings.
The purple swirled around Tommy as if it was a liquid, but he moved through it as if it was air. Tommy gazed unconcerned off into the distance, wondering if there was anything beyond the purple. But there was nothing; no Supergirl, no Luthor, no Batman, no end of the world. Only purple.
"I do not wish to be around purple anymore," Tommy thought to himself, and suddenly he felt himself begin to rush forward at a quick pace, gaining and gaining in speed as he hurtled head-first through the air. He couldn't feel air rushing by his body or his clothes (Tommy now noticed that he was naked; he couldn't remember what he had been wearing before) but he had the unmistakable feeling that he was hurtling through the air.
With great effort, Tommy lifted his head and looked up to see where he was going. Far in the distance, Tommy could see the purple was being filtered out: half of it was split off into a brilliant blue and Tommy thought to himself that it was the most beautiful color he had ever seen. The other half was split into a deep dark red and Tommy thought to himself that it was very ugly. Tommy was struck by the indescribable feeling that he wanted to be with the blue.
Tommy began to swim as best he could in the purple, trying desperately to get to the blue. But it was not to be; for every stroke he made towards the blue, the inevitable tide drew him off towards the red. If Tommy stroked harder, he was directed towards the red harder. Tommy gasped as he watched the blue fade away and was fully enclosed in this ugly, ugly red.
And then Tommy suddenly hit ground. He landed in a heap, hitting his face rather hard into the ground. And, like that, he remembered everything.
***
Tommy immediately reached for his groin.
"My fucking di... hey..." He said softly to himself. Tommy's dick was... fine? He grabbed it tentatively and winced in preparation for pain but nothing came. Tommy's hands slid tentatively over his cock and balls, feeling for sore spots. Everything seemed to be okay. His dick was fine.
"Your dick is fine," Came a cheery voice from behind Tommy. "Well... it's fine here, anyway."
Tommy scrambled to his feet and looked behind him, his fists up as if to fight. As Tommy saw who it was, though, his fists quickly dropped to cover his johnson.
The voice belonged to a pale young woman clad entirely in black. She had messy black hair and a rather kind face, her mouth slightly open in a friendly smile. She was sitting on the floor with her legs outstretched and crossed, her hands behind her resting on the red ground. She wore a black tanktop and black leather pants, with black gloves and boots that were, you guessed it, white. No wait, black. She waggled her foot as she waited for Tommy to speak.
"Who... who are you?" Tommy asked cautiously. He realized his fly was still open and quickly zipped it shut.
"Who am I?" The girl asked. She picked herself up off the ground and dusted off her bottom. "Just a friend. Nice to meet you, Tommy."
Tommy's eyes narrowed. "How do you know who I am?" He asked.
The girl laughed. "I kiiiinda know everything," She said modestly. "Well... almost everything."
As she spoke, Tommy noticed that she had a particular tattoo just below her right eye. It was a small curl that extended out from her right eyelid down. It gave Tommy the vague impression that she had been crying. For some reason, the tattoo made him nervous.
"Look, this is fucked," Tommy said, getting a little worked up. "I was in an explosion, I woke up here in all this... red shit, and now you're speaking in riddles. Now tell me where the fuck I am or-"
"Okay, okay," The girl said. "I'll tell you what's going on but you have to promise not to freak out, okay? Do you promise?"
Tommy sighed. "Sure, fine, I promise."
The girl took a deep breath.
"I'm Death of the Endless," She said. "Nice to meet you."
Tommy turned and began to run.
"Tommy..." Death called out after him. Tommy ran faster, his feet pounding against the red ground. He ran hard, his breath ragged, an occasional worried gesticulation coming out of him as his terrified feet carried him as far as he could go. His dick flopped with every step, bouncing against his waist. He wasn't sure where he was running to but all he knew was that he didn't want to die.
"Tommy," Death said again. Tommy looked behind him to see how much ground he had gained and was shocked to see that he hadn't moved at all. He suddenly realized that he was running in place and that Death was still directly behind him, no matter how many steps he took. He slowly stopped running and considered his situation.
"Well... shit," Tommy said.
"Yeah," Death responded.
Tommy turned back around and tried to stand tall, his hands once against covering his cock. "So... I guess I'm dead, then," He said, trying to process his newfound situation. "So all this red is...?"
Death suddenly burst out laughing. "Relax, you're not dead," Death said between giggles. "Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned that to you right off the bat." Death began to laugh again, covering her mouth with her hand.
Tommy frowned. "So if I'm not dead, then where am I?" He asked, somewhat annoyed.
Death looked around. "Oh, this?" She asked. "This is called The Bleed. It's the ethereal, interdimensional realm that connects your universes..." She trailed off as she saw the blank look on Tommy's face. "It's the thing that prevents your universes from smashing together," She simplified.
"Oh," Tommy said, feigning understanding. "I totally know what you're talking about."
Death continued. "Or, at least, it did prevent your universes from smashing together. Until the Source Wall was destroyed."
Tommy thought back to the events that had led to him getting here. "I guess I really fucked up, huh," He said forlornly.
Death gave Tommy a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Hey, I thought you did a pretty good job as Batman," She said.
